Video Marketing for Small Business | STORYWORKS

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As published in Independent Retailer on August 1, 2012 by Vladimir S

The story goes that on August 1, 1981 video killed the radio star.

Whether historians ultimately find video guilty of murder or not, what?s for certain is that video is streaming life into a new kind of Internet?one that is challenging small businesses to connect with consumers in a new and different way?in full-color moving pictures and sound. The web video era is upon us, and it?s here to stay.

Of course video is not new to the Internet. The revolution was sparked even before April 2005 when the first digital video was uploaded to YouTube. In the time since, YouTube?s trove of video content has grown exponentially, especially given consumers? easy access to digital video devices including today?s camera phones. In fact, in the next 60 seconds users will upload 72 hours of video footage to YouTube just as they do every minute, all day, every day. Think about it. That?s a lot of videos.

And where there are a lot of videos, there are a lot of viewers. YouTube tells us that over 800 million unique visitors watch over 3 billion hours of video each month. Given the ubiquity of broadband and advanced video streaming technologies for both PCs and smart phones, perhaps those numbers shouldn?t be so hard to believe. Bottom line: today everyone is watching video.

So, what does all of this video stuff mean for today?s small business? More than anything else, it means that business owners should seize this opportunity and leverage video to introduce themselves, give virtual tours of their businesses, highlight their products and services and engage their target audiences as never before. As if through a television commercial, but not simply a television commercial, a better-than-television commercial. One that is interactive, on-demand and opt-in. So, one that is unicast to the right person at the right time, on his or her terms. Marketing just doesn?t get more efficient than that.

Nor does it get any cheaper! That?s because professional grade digital video capturing and editing technologies are available in today?s consumer grade electronics. So, just as in 1999 when one out of every two Apple Macintosh owners was a self-proclaimed web designer, today there are millions of camcorder jockeys producing digital video for the web. There?s no need to hire a Madison Avenue advertising firm. No need for a Superbowl-sized ad budget. A web video for your business can be had for a couple hundred bucks. Or even cheaper when you do it yourself. (It doesn?t take much. Heck, DIY- types can even shoot, edit and upload their videos to the Internet without ever leaving their iPhones to do it!)

But if you want superior production quality?you know, maybe a professional voiceover, a little animation, some nice background music?then you?re talking $500 or more. And if you really want to get carried away and perhaps give the GEICO? Lizard and Jack in the Box? a run for their money, you can hire a reputable agency to develop your concept and easily spend a couple thousand dollars on the idea alone.

With digital video offering so many creative possibilities, knowing where to begin is often the hardest part. So, here are some tips to put video to work for your business and leverage the Internet?s latest sea change for marketers.?

1) Assume the Starring Role

Web video allows business owners to put themselves in front of the camera and virtually introduce themselves to would-be customers. You should do this. It?s not quite face-to-face, but it?s close. This technique is helping dentists, chefs, therapists, coaches and untold other professionals put themselves out there, share their value propositions, and tell their unique stories in far more personable ways. In so doing, they more easily build trust with and evoke an emotional response from the viewer, which hopefully results in an action.

If you?re too shy to look and speak into the camera, you?ve got other options. Consider filming yourself in action making a widget, merchandising your retail space, or doing whatever it is that you do in your business. Even better, film yourself interfacing with real customers. Of course, you can always record your voice and use it for the voiceover. In any case, as the business owner, assume the starring role. You?ll be surprised at how viewers will respond knowing that the owner of the company has genuinely put himself out there.

2) Keep it Brief

Your video should be about 30 to 60 seconds in duration, but absolutely no longer than 2 minutes. While you may be tempted to tell a comprehensive history of your business or even dig into microscopic details of your product offering, don?t. Follow the leader on this one: there is a reason that television commercials are 10, 20, 30 or 60 seconds max!

I can hear Bill Guthy and Greg Renker screaming from here. And while it?s tough to argue against Guthy-Renker and their wildly successful brand of modern, hour-long infomercials, I?ll maintain my point: most of us have come to expect that all we need to know in order to make a buying decision will be delivered in 60 seconds or less. While it?s true there are those in your target audience for whom more information will most certainly lead to a sale, even they prefer to consume commercial content on their terms. To satisfy these types, you can always provide access to longer, more informational and more educational videos that you make available on your website. But for those web videos that you hope will attract and convert?i.e. cause a prospect to follow a call to action?including ones that you embed on your home page, landing pages or that you share anywhere else on the web, keep those videos short and sweet.

3) Keep it Real

Just as customer reviews have taken hold as the currency of trust and goodwill online, video testimonials from actual customers are the Internet?s latest equivalent to word-of-mouth marketing. Live, onsite, interview-style testimonials are relatively easy to stage. Recruit one of your loyal customers to display her on-camera charisma. Prospects viewing your video will identify with a real-life person who describes making a purchase decision and being happy with the results. If you can?t recruit a customer to get in front of the camera, perhaps ask one to call and leave a voicemail message that can later be used as voiceover in your video. Honest and unrehearsed phoned-in customer testimonials are perfectly acceptable, and viewers tend to forgive any lack of production quality recognizing the trade-off for an authentic review.

4) Steak & Sizzle

We all know the old marketing adage that tells us to ?Sell the sizzle, not the steak.? But with its obvious emphasis on keyword relevance and indexing, Internet marketing such as PPC and SEO forces marketers to stick with the steak in order to achieve high-ranking results that match customer-entered keywords. A little too much sizzle can even have adverse effects with such online marketing. But not with web video! Use your moving pictures and sound as creatively as possible. Favor on the benefits of your product, the differentiators of your service, or the people on your team, and do it all with great flourish. The point is that regardless of what you are selling, in order to do it most effectively via video, you are smart to include both the steak and the sizzle.

5) DIY or Outsource Production?

For the typical small business, especially ones without a marketing staff, stepping up to video may be intimidating, but it?s really quite easy. As previously suggested, the barriers to entry are few enough and the costs low enough that DIYers can successfully produce and distribute web video with little more than a digital camera, a PC and a YouTube account. (You won?t receive an Emmy or an Oscar anytime soon, but that?s not your aim now is it?)

One word of caution here: successful video marketing requires a type of commercial storytelling that doesn?t come easy to everyone. A commercial well-conceived is like a story well told: in order to capture a viewer?s attention, hold it and then inspire an action, it must follow a time-tested structure and incorporate knowledge and experience few video novices can replicate. So, if you?d like to increase the chances your videos will be found, watched and ultimately converted into a sale, you may wish to hire a professional firm that uses the same post-production skills found in television commercials and film to shoot, edit and create a video of which you will be quite proud.

Is this beginning to sound a little more than you bargained for? Don?t fret. There are many reputable companies available to assist small business owners who desire to get into the video game. Companies such as STORYWORKS are capable of producing professional, commercial-grade videos and animations, at an affordable cost, for small business customers all over the world. Some of these companies leverage a network of remote videographers who will shoot footage on location. As a more economical option, some of these companies accept still photos and video footage from clients just like you, and then apply their own post-production skills to deliver a video you?d expect from a professional agency.

6) Reach Your Target Audience

But even when you turn to a company for help, producing a great video is one thing. And getting it in front of someone who really matters? Well, that?s something altogether different. It takes a heck of a lot of work to reach your target audience when and where it matters most. Start by uploading your video to YouTube. Do the same at Metacafe.com, Vimeo.com, Dailymotion.com, Viddler.com, Break.com and Veoh.com. Don?t overlook these lesser video brand names, as each can generate a great deal of traffic to your website.

Beyond that effort, in order to truly reach its audience, your video must match what it is your target audience is looking for. In other words your video must be relevant. Let?s say you?re a dentist in Deluth. Wouldn?t it be nice if your video was on page 1 of Google whenever Deluth residents searched for a local dentist? Of course! So, it?s no wonder that search engine optimization (SEO) has given birth to VSEO (or video SEO) and spawned another cottage industry for doctoring up keyword relevancy. Human-authored video metadata can (and should) be created for each video to increase its search engine visibility. At its best, proper VSEO can assure that your video achieves the highest ranking possible on YouTube (the world?s second most popular search engine) and perhaps even reaches page 1 of Google (the most popular).

Like its webpage sibling, VSEO comes in many forms and is administered by firms, agencies and consultants alike. There is an awful lot for the typical novice to learn, but if you truly wish to do it yourself, you can. That said, here again companies such as STORYWORKS are experts at helping optimize video campaigns for small businesses. Prices can vary greatly depending on comprehensiveness of services offered and the competitiveness of your specific geographic marketplace and business category. Zero or limited-risk guarantees are available such as STORYWORK?s Pg1! Video Marketing service (your video achieves and maintains its place on page 1 of Google or you pay nothing). Just know that whether it?s a DIY project or an outsourced program, your VSEO strategy must consider the long-term. One-time optimizations can do the trick, but will only last so long.

Conclusion

Although web video is not new, its use among small businesses is fairly limited, so now is the time for opportunity. Take a look for yourself?are your key competitors using video? Regardless, working to edge out your competition online is no easy task and video can only help. When you can position your business in front of your target audience, e.g. with a listing on page 1 of Google, you still need to gain a competitive edge by making your listing distinct. But get your video on page 1 of Google; a premium video listing with a graphic thumbnail; often the one and only one of its kind on the page, and you win! Video is easy, the price is right, and the help is there if you need it. So, what are you waiting for? It?s time. Lights, camera, action!

Source: http://www.storyworksvideo.com/2012/08/07/video-marketing-for-small-business/

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